CHAPTER ONE

VIBRATION OF MACHINERY AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

Learning Objectives
After completing this chapter, students should be able to do the following:
 Indicate the importance of study of vibration
 Give various classifications of vibration
 Define harmonic motion and different possible representations of harmonic motion

1.1 Importance of the Study of Vibration

In recent times, many investigations have been motivated by the engineering applications
of vibration, such as the design of machines, foundations, structures, engines, turbines, and
control systems. Thus one of the important purposes of vibration study is to reduce vibration
through proper design of machines and their mountings.
1.1.1 Side effects of vibration
The study of vibration is very important in the field of engineering as it is found to give rise to
various undesirable side effects such as:
1. Most prime movers have vibration problems due to the inherent unbalance in the engines,
as a result of faulty design or poor manufacture.
2. Imbalance in diesel engines, for example, can cause ground waves sufficiently powerful
to create a nuisance in urban areas.
3. The wheels of some locomotives can rise more than a centimeter off the track at high
speeds due to imbalance.
4. In turbines, vibrations cause spectacular mechanical failures.
5. Structures designed to support heavy centrifugal machines, like motors and turbines, or
reciprocating machines, like steam and gas engines and reciprocating pumps, are also
subjected to vibration.
6. The structure or machine component subjected to vibration can fail because of material
fatigue resulting from the cyclic variation of the induced stress.
7. Vibration causes more rapid wear of machine parts such as bearings and gears and also
creates excessive noise.
8. In machines, vibration can loosen fasteners such as nuts.

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 9. In metal cutting processes, vibration can cause chatter, which leads to a poor surface
finish.
10. Whenever the natural frequency of vibration of a machine or structure coincides with the
frequency of the external excitation, this results in a phenomenon known as resonance,
which leads to excessive deflections and failure.
11. The transmission of vibration to human beings results in discomfort and loss of
efficiency.
12. The vibration and noise generated by engines causes annoyance to people and,
sometimes, damage to property.
13. Vibration of instrument panels can cause their malfunction or difficulty in reading the
meters.
1.1.2 Benefits of vibration
In spite of its detrimental effects, vibration can be utilized profitably in several consumer and
industrial applications. In fact, the applications of vibratory equipment have increased
considerably in recent years. Some of the benefits of vibration are as follows:
1. Vibration is put to work in vibratory conveyors, hoppers, sieves, compactors, washing
machines, electric toothbrushes, dentists’ drills, clocks, and electric massaging units.
2. Vibration is also used in pile driving, vibratory testing of materials, vibratory finishing
processes, and electronic circuits to filter out the unwanted frequencies.
3. Vibration has been found to improve the efficiency of certain machining, casting,
forging, and welding processes.
4. Vibration is employed to simulate earthquakes for geological research and also to
conduct studies in the design of nuclear reactors.

1.2 Basic Concepts and Definitions

1.2.1 What is vibration?
Any motion that repeats itself after an interval of time is called vibration or oscillation.
The swinging of a pendulum and the motion of a plucked string are typical examples of
vibration. The theory of vibration deals with the study of oscillatory motions of bodies and the
forces associated with them.

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1.2.2 Elementary parts of vibrating systems
A vibratory system, in general, includes a means for storing potential energy (spring or
elasticity), a means for storing kinetic energy (mass or inertia), and a means by which energy is
gradually lost (damper).

Figure 1.1: A simple vibratory system

1.2.3 Number of degrees of freedom

The minimum number of independent coordinates required to determine completely the
positions of all parts of a system at any instant of time defines the number of degrees of freedom
of the system.

Figure 1.2: Single-degree-of-freedom systems

The simple vibratory system shown in Fig. 1.1, as well as each of the systems shown in
Fig. 1.2, represents a single-degree-of-freedom system. For the slider shown in Fig. 1.2 (a),
either the angular coordinate or the coordinate x can be used to describe the motion. In Fig. 1.2
(b), the linear coordinate x can be used to specify the motion. For the torsional system (long bar
with a heavy disk at the end) shown in Fig. 1.2 (c), the angular coordinate  can be used to
describe the motion.

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 Figure 1.3: Two-degree-of-freedom systems

Some examples of two-degree-of-freedom systems are shown in Figs. 1.3. Figure 1.3 (a)
shows a two-mass, two-spring system that is described by the two linear coordinates x1 and x2 .

Figure 1.3 (b) denotes a two-rotor system whose motion can be specified in terms of 1 and  2 .
The motion of the system shown in Fig. 1.3 (c) can be described completely either by X and  or

by x, y, and X. In the latter case, x and y are constrained as x 2  y 2  l where l is a constant.

1.2.4 Discrete and continuous systems

Systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom are called discrete or lumped
parameter systems (e.g Figs. 1.1 to 1.3), and those with an infinite number of degrees of freedom
are called continuous or distributed systems (e.g Fig. 1.4).

Figure 1.4: A cantilever beam

(an infinite-number-of-degrees-of-freedom system)

Most of the time, continuous systems are approximated as discrete systems, and solutions
are obtained in a simpler manner. Most structural and machine systems have deformable (elastic)
members and therefore have an infinite number of degrees of freedom. Most of the practical
systems are studied by treating them as finite lumped masses, springs, and dampers. In general,
more accurate results are obtained by increasing the number of masses, springs, and dampers that
is, by increasing the number of degrees of freedom.

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1.3 Classification of Vibration
1.3.1 Free, forced vibration and resonance
 Free vibration: If a system, after an initial disturbance, is left to vibrate on its own, the
ensuing vibration is known as free vibration. No external force acts on the system. The
oscillation of a simple pendulum is an example of free vibration.
 Forced vibration: If a system is subjected to an external force (often, a repeating type of
force), the resulting vibration is known as forced vibration. The oscillation that arises in
machines such as diesel engines is an example of forced vibration.
 Resonance: If the frequency of the external force coincides with one of the natural
frequencies of the system, a condition known as resonance occurs, and the system
undergoes dangerously large oscillations. Failures of such structures as buildings,
bridges, turbines, and airplane wings have been associated with the occurrence of
resonance.

1.3.2 Undamped and damped vibration

 Undamped vibration: If no energy is lost or dissipated in friction or other resistance
during oscillation, the vibration is known as undamped vibration.
 Damped vibration: If any energy is lost in this way, however, it is called damped
vibration.
 In many physical systems, the amount of damping is so small that it can be disregarded
for most engineering purposes. However, consideration of damping becomes extremely
important in analyzing vibratory systems near resonance.

1.3.3 Linear and Nonlinear Vibration

 Linear vibration: If all the basic components of a vibratory system the spring, the mass,
and the damper behave linearly, the resulting vibration is known as linear vibration.
 Nonlinear Vibration: If, however, any of the basic components behave nonlinearly, the
vibration is called nonlinear vibration.

1.3.4 Deterministic and random vibration

 Deterministic vibration: If the value or magnitude of the excitation (force or motion)
acting on a vibratory system is known at any given time, the excitation is called
deterministic. The resulting vibration is known as deterministic vibration.
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  Random vibration: In some cases, the excitation is nondeterministic or random; the
value of the excitation at a given time cannot be predicted. In these cases, a large
collection of records of the excitation may exhibit some statistical regularity. It is
possible to estimate averages such as the mean and mean square values of the excitation.
Examples of random excitations are wind velocity, road roughness, and ground motion
during earthquakes. If the excitation is random, the resulting vibration is called random
vibration. In this case the vibratory response of the system is also random; it can be
described only in terms of statistical quantities.
 Figure 1.5 shows examples of deterministic and random excitations.

Figure 1.5: Deterministic and random excitations

1.4 Harmonic Motion

1.4.1 Displacement, velocity and acceleration of harmonic motion
Oscillatory motion may repeat itself regularly, as in the case of a simple pendulum, or it
may display considerable irregularity, as in the case of ground motion during an earthquake. If
the motion is repeated after equal intervals of time, it is called periodic motion. The simplest type
of periodic motion is harmonic motion.

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 Figure 1.6: A simple harmonic motion of a scotch yoke mechanism

The motion imparted to the mass m due to the Scotch yoke mechanism shown in Fig. 1.6 is an
example of simple harmonic motion. The mass m of the spring-mass system are displaced from
their middle positions by an amount x (in time t) given by
(1.1)

This motion is shown by the sinusoidal curve in Fig. 1.6. The velocity of the mass m at time t is
given by

(1.2)

and the acceleration by

(1.3)

It can be seen that the acceleration is directly proportional to the displacement. Such a vibration,
with the acceleration proportional to the displacement and directed toward the mean position, is
known as simple harmonic motion. The motion given by x  A cost is another example of a
simple harmonic motion. Figure 1.6 clearly shows the similarity between cyclic (harmonic)
motion and sinusoidal motion.

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1.4.2 Complex-number representation of harmonic motion

Figure 1.7: Representation of a complex number

It is more convenient to represent harmonic motion using a complex-number representation. Any

vector in the xy-plane can be represented as a complex number:

(1.4)

where i   1 and a and b denote the x and y components of X respectively (see Fig. 1.7).

Components a and b are also called the real and imaginary parts of the vector X . If A denotes

the modulus or absolute value of the vector X , and  represents the argument or the angle

between the vector and the x-axis, then X can also be expressed as

(1.5)

With a  A cos , b  A sin 

(1.6)

And
(1.7)

But
(1.8)
cos  i sin  ei
(1.9)
cos  i sin  ei
Thus Eq. (1.5) can be expressed as
(1.10)

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Hence, if the harmonic displacement is given as x(t )  A cos wt , the operations on harmonic
functions for the displacement, velocity, and acceleration can be expressed as

(1.11)

(1.12)

(1.13)

Where, Re denotes the real part.

If the harmonic displacement is originally given as x(t )  A sin wt then we have
(1.14)

(1.15)
(1.16)

Where, Im denotes the imaginary part.

Problem Set 1
1. Considering the engineering applications of vibration in recent times, why is it important
to study vibration?
2. Explain the side effects of vibration known to you.
3. What are the possible benefits of vibration in our environment?
4. What do you understand as vibration?
5. What is the significance if resonance in vibration studies?
6. A typical vibratory system should normally comprise of certain basic parts; illustrate.
7. Distinguish between single-degree and two-degree of freedom systems.
8. Differentiate between free and forced vibration.
9. Differentiate between undamped and damped vibration.
10. Differentiate between linear and nonlinear vibration.
11. Differentiate between deterministic and random vibration.
12. Demonstrate the complex number analysis of displacement, velocity and acceleration of
harmonic motions.